January 20, 2014 12:30pm ESTJanuary 20, 2014 12:28pm ESTRichard Sherman and Michael Crabtree nearly coming to blows at a charity event? Sounds strange, but also completely believable in the wake of what transpired after the NFC championship game.Richard Sherman(AP Photo)

Richard Sherman and Michael Crabtree nearly coming to blows at a charity event? Sounds strange, but also completely believable in the wake of what transpired after the NFC championship game.

Sherman created a social media uproar when he angrily — and possibly hilariously or shamefully, depending on your personal view — boasted about his game-sealing play in his postgame interview on Sunday, in which the Seahawks' cornerback tipped a pass intended for 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree, leading to an interception for Seattle’s Malcolm Smith.

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Sherman called Crabtree a “sorry receiver” and didn’t back down afterwards, later calling him “mediocre.”

That kind of boastfulness isn’t out of the ordinary for Sherman, but the seeds of this particular animosity with Crabtree remained something of a mystery. All Sherman would say is that it stemmed from something that happened in the offseason.

Now we have our explanation. According to Sherman’s brother Branton, via the Seattle Times, the two players attended a charity event hosted by Cardinals' receiver Larry Fitzgerald last summer. Sherman reportedly tried to go shake Crabtree's hand, but Crabtree responded by trying to “start a fight.”

Branton also said that his brother Richard promised to “make a play and embarrass” Crabtree, so consider that mission accomplished.

In light of this new info, Sherman’s apparent attempt to shake Crabtree’s hand after the interception on Sunday, which came after he patted the receiver on the behind, now makes sense. No surprise that Crabtree turned this one down also, and you can understand why he responded by shoving Sherman in the facemask, too.

Sherman writes a regular column for Sports Illustrated's MMQB site, and he used that space on Monday to respond to the postgame storm that he alone created.

As far as his history with Crabtree, he only mentioned that "it goes back to something (Crabtree) said to me this offseason in Arizona," which would seem to fall in line with his brother's explanation, though the exact details remain unconfirmed. Sherman also claimed that his butt-pat and attempt to shake Crabtree's hand on the field were earnest displays of sportsmanship — apparently he’s unaware that Crabtree may not have been in the best mood, seeing as it came right after the play that sealed a devastating loss for Crabtree's team.

It is extremely likely that Crabtree has a different version of the events that transpired at that fateful Fitzgerald charity event than the Sherman brothers do, but as of now he hasn’t commented about it. And it's also possible that the bad blood goes back even further than this reported encounter.

With the Seahawks firmly in the media spotlight these next two weeks before they take on the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, you can bet this topic won’t be going away — especially given Sherman’s proclivity to talk.